Art services for screen printers who would rather be printing
Every print shop knows the pattern. A customer sends a logo pulled from their website at 200 pixels wide, a photo of an old shirt, or a PDF that turns out to hold a single flattened image. Someone has to redraw it before a screen can be burned or a transfer can be printed, and that someone is usually the person who should be on the press. Outside art services for screen printers exist to fix that: you send the messy file, and you get back artwork that is ready for output.
StitchQuill works as an extra art department you pay per job. There is no retainer, no minimum and no monthly fee. Each file is built by a person, you see a proof, you ask for changes as often as you need, and you pay only when you approve.
Vector art for print shops
Clean vector art is the base of almost everything a print shop does, from film output and vinyl cutting to supplier orders for promo items. We redraw logos and artwork as true vector shapes instead of running them through an automatic trace, which is what leaves wobbly curves, lumpy corners and hundreds of stray nodes.
- Simple ($12): text-based logos and basic shapes with few colors.
- Standard ($22): most business logos, with several colors, custom lettering or an icon.
- Complex ($38): detailed illustrations, mascots and artwork with fine linework.
Fonts are matched where the typeface can be identified, and hand-drawn lettering is redrawn. Colors can be set to the Pantone references your customer gives you. Sign shops get closed paths suitable for cutting, and anyone sending art to a supplier gets the AI, EPS, SVG or PDF they keep asking for. The logo vectorization page covers file types and complexity levels in more detail.
Separations outsourcing for screen printing
Separations are where a lot of print shop time disappears. Outsourcing them makes sense when the artwork is a multi-color design your team would spend an afternoon on, or when you simply have more jobs than hands. We split the art into one layer per ink color, add registration marks, and set up the details that change with the garment:
- A white underbase for dark garments, choked back so it does not peek out at the edges.
- A highlight white printed last where the design calls for it.
- Trapping between colors that touch, so small registration shifts on press do not leave gaps.
- Halftones for shading and gradients, at the line count you tell us you run.
Separations start at $25 for up to 4 spot colors, plus $5 for each extra color. Tell us the garment color, the number of screens you want to use and anything specific to your shop, such as mesh counts or how you handle underbase, in the order notes. Details are on the screen print separations page.
Send the worst logo in your inbox. You will see a proof before you pay, and your first design is free up to $24. Upload your artwork
Print-ready files for DTF and DTG
DTF and DTG printers print what is in the file, flaws and all. A JPG with a white box around the logo prints a white box. A low-resolution image scaled up for a full front prints soft and jagged. Our print-ready service gives you a cleaned file at the exact print size, with a transparent background, crisp edges and colors tidied up so the print matches what the customer expects. Each file is $15. See DTF and DTG print-ready art for what we fix and what to send.
For DTF, ask us to remove tiny isolated specks and hairline gaps in the artwork. They are easy to miss on screen, but they can lift or flake after washing on some films.
Add embroidery without hiring a digitizer
Many print shops get asked for embroidery on polos, caps and jackets alongside printed tees. Some run a single-head machine, and some send the sewing to a contract embroiderer. Either way, the job needs a stitch file, and digitizing is a separate skill from print art. We build embroidery files by hand for the size, placement and fabric, and every order includes DST, PES, EXP and the other common machine formats, so the file works on your machine or your contractor's. Small designs such as a left-chest logo up to 4.5 in are $14, and medium designs up to 8 in are $24. The embroidery digitizing section explains the options.
Built to sit inside your workflow
Turnaround that matches your quote times
Standard turnaround is 24 hours from when you place the order. For a job promised for tomorrow, rush is 12 hours for $5 more, and express is 6 hours for $10 more.
Your customers stay yours
Files carry no StitchQuill branding, and we never contact your customers. You can send our proof to your client as your own art approval.
One place for every logo
Each file stays in your dashboard with its order history, messages and invoices. When a customer comes back next season, you download the same art again or order a new version from it. Shops that order often can buy credit packs with bonus credit that never expires, and regular shops can ask for weekly invoicing.
What to send with a print art order
- The best artwork you have. JPG, PNG, PDF, AI, EPS, SVG, PSD or a ZIP of several files.
- How it will print. Screen print, DTF, DTG, vinyl or a supplier, plus the garment color.
- Size and colors. The print size, the number of ink colors and any Pantone references.
- Anything unusual. A font name, a background to remove, or text your customer wants corrected.